The fabrication of semiconducting wafers is a complex process carried out, for example, to create substrates for integrated circuits and other electronics. A typical wafer manufacturing process may involve a lame number of steps, including routine transfer of wafers from station to station. For example, a robot may transfer a wafer via one or more hands from a source station holding a plurality of wafers to an aligner station configured to determine the rotational orientation of wafers. The robot may receive instructions governing its operation from a user, which may comprise commands instructing the robot to obtain/place a wafer and associated parameters specifying the source/destination and hand to grip the wafer.
Implementation of a wafer process in which multiple wafer sizes are handled is less straightforward. For example, some stations and robot hands may handle only one wafer size, requiring instructions issued to the robot to specify correct parameters respecting the handling capabilities of the wafer process. Issuance of instructions with incorrect parameters may cause errors and even damage to components in the wafer process.